Plénitude - Cheval Blanc Paris

75001 PARIS

19/20
Exceptional Restaurant

10 PHOTOS

Chef Arnaud Donckele

Cooking French | Gastronomic | Signature cuisine

Price Indicative price per person (excl. drinks)

415€ à 460€

Gault&Millau's review

19/20

Exceptional Restaurant Plenitude, zenitude, bliss - any number of moods can flow through you during the evening at Cheval Blanc, in this first-floor lounge opening onto the Pont-Neuf and the Seine, in the historic heart of Paris. This is what it's all about: the image of the world's largest luxury group, in its own country, in a symbolic location, combined with hotel and restaurant services at the height of majesty. To achieve this, the chef who swept all before him in Saint-Tropez offers French genius in jewel-like compositions. Like Paganini, who composed pieces so complex that only he could play them, Arnaud Donckele takes his teams to heights beyond the commonplace. His "sauces à manger" have become an unmistakable trademark, so precise, inspired and renewed are they according to theme: with sardines, fennel and tarragon, a "velvet of Eden", with the divine partridge in an "autumn vegetable garden", the consummate "plume sauvage", which conceals a colossal effort to express the forest, the bird, the autumn breath of tall trees, a powerful natural evocation of the environment. It's one of the constants of this unique cuisine, the ability to recreate a landscape, an entire terroir: with the crocus red mullet and its rocky aroma, as with the magnificent langoustine Jerusalem artichoke and black cardamom with its "Astera" sabayon, we plunge into the marine environment with delight. This chef knows how to do it all, and is equally at ease with game, like this grouse in two ways, including an unforgettable version "à la royale" à la Couteaux. The evening is beautiful, Paris is at your feet, and pastry chef Maxime Frédéric takes to the stage for a frenzied rondo of dazzling desserts ("Olga's kaolin", a variation on peach, or the suave "fleur de cabosse" pear chocolate tonka), while the front-of-house team, one of the best in Paris and therefore in the world, is brilliantly led by the young and very talented Alexandre Larvoir.